The present application relates generally to design and manufacturing. It finds particular application in conjunction with 3-dimensional (3D) additive manufacturing, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present application is also amenable to other applications.
3D additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing and layered manufacturing, among other terms, includes the process of building 3-dimensional solid shapes by accumulating material laid down in cross-sectional layers. The additive manufacturing process is driven by the controlled planar translation of a mechanism that determines the spatial accumulation of material. As 3D additive manufacturing advances, it is desirable to find improvements that increase efficiency of the manufacturing process as well as the ability to manufacture increasingly complex 3D multi-part objects.